Problem: King Saul was mortally wounded, and he asked his armorbearer to assist him in committing suicide. Was this justified?
07
Oct
2019
06
Oct
2019
1 Samuel 31—The report of Saul’s death in this passage contradicts that given in the next chapter (2 Sam. 1)
Problem: First Samuel 31 says that King Saul committed suicide by falling on his sword, but 2 Samuel 1 records that he was killed by an Amalekite as he was about to lean on his sword.
05
Oct
2019
1 Samuel 28:7ff—How could God allow the Witch of Endor to raise Samuel from the dead when God condemned witchcraft?
Problem: The Bible severely condemns witchcraft and communication with the dead (Ex. 22:18; Lev. 20:6, 27; Deut. 18:9–12; Isa. 8:19). In the OT those who practiced it were to receive capital punishment. King Saul knew this and even put all witches out of the land (1 Sam. 28:3). Nevertheless, in disobedience to God, he went to the witch of Endor for her to contact the dead prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 28:8ff). The problem here is that she appears to be successful in contacting Samuel, which lends validity to the powers of witchcraft which the Bible so severely condemns.
04
Oct
2019
1 Samuel 21:9—Was Goliath’s armor kept in David’s tent or in Nob?
Problem: In this text the sword of Goliath was located in Nob (cf. v. 1). However, in 1 Samuel 17:54 it says David “put his [Goliath’s] armor in his tent.”
03
Oct
2019
1 Samuel 19:24—Why did Saul strip off his clothes as he danced and prophesied before Samuel?
Problem: Samuel was conducting a service in which the group of prophets were prophesying. When Saul’s men came to capture David, they were overcome by the Spirit of the Lord and they also prophesied. However, when Saul came, he prophesied, danced, and stripped off his clothes. Why does Saul do this when apparently none of the others did?
01
Oct
2019
1 Samuel 19:23–24—How could it be said that the Spirit of God was upon Saul when God had already rejected him?
Problem: When Saul came to Naioth in Ramah to try to capture David, he sent soldiers up to bring David back in chains. When his soldiers came back empty-handed, Saul decided to go up himself. However, when he came near to Naioth, the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he danced and prophesied before Samuel. How could it be said that the Spirit of God was upon Saul when God had already rejected him?
30
Sep
2019
1 Samuel 18:10—How could a good God send an evil spirit to Saul?
Problem: According to this passage, the evil (“distressing,” nkjv) spirit came upon Saul so that he prophesied in his house, and then tried to kill David with a spear. However, the verse clearly states that the evil spirit was from God. How could a good God send an evil spirit to bring distress to Saul?
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30
Sep
2019
Time Trip
Imagine for a moment that we are in a different time period. We have gone back thousands of years. There are no cars. There are no airplanes. There are no modern conveniences. We are in primitive times.
We take a look around us. There is no Bible. We know nothing about the universe around us. We have no knowledge of God. We don’t know how mankind got here. Then we look again. We see a seed fall from a tree and from the top of the soil, plant itself, tend to its self, raise itself up into a seedling and mature into a tree, only to repeat the cycle all over again. And we wonder. Then we go to the ocean. We study the tides and discover that they are used to clean the waters, making it impossible to support life without them. We look and ask ourselves, “Was this planned?” We look beneath the surface of the water, to the depths below. We find life. Strange creatures! Some which breathe water and some which breathe air like us. Some that spawn eggs.
29
Sep
2019
1 Samuel 18:1–4—Were David and Jonathan homosexuals?
Problem: This Scripture records the intense love David and Jonathan had for each other. Some see this as an indication that they were homosexual. They infer this from the fact that Jonathan “loved” David (18:3); that Jonathan stripped in David’s presence (18:4); that they “kissed” each other with great emotion (1 Sam. 20:41). They point also to David’s lack of successful relations with women as an indication of his homosexual tendencies. Is this a valid conclusion to draw from these texts?
28
Sep
2019
1 Samuel 17:57–58—Why did Saul not recognize his harp player David as the one who killed Goliath?
Problem: In 1 Samuel 16, Saul hired David to play the harp for him, and yet, in chapter 17, after David killed Goliath the giant, Saul did not seem to recognize who he was.